In a conventional magnetic storage system, a thin film magnetic head includes an inductive read/write transducer mounted on a slider. The magnetic head is coupled to a rotary actuator magnet and a voice coil assembly by a suspension and an actuator arm positioned over a surface of a spinning magnetic disk. In operation, a lift force is generated by the aerodynamic interaction between the magnetic head and the spinning magnetic disk. The lift force is opposed by equal and opposite spring forces applied by the suspension such that a predetermined flying height is maintained over a full radial stroke of the rotary actuator assembly above the surface of the spinning magnetic disk. The flying height is defined as the spacing between the surface of the spinning magnetic disk and the lowest point of the slider assembly. One objective of the design of magnetic read/write heads is to obtain a very small flying height between the read/write element and the disk surface. By maintaining a flying height close to the disk, it is possible to record short wavelength or high frequency signals, thereby achieving high density and high storage data recording capacity.
The slider design incorporates an air bearing surface to control the aerodynamic interaction between the magnetic head and the spinning magnetic disk thereunder. Air bearing surface (ABS) sliders used in disk drives typically have a leading edge and a trailing edge at which thin film read/write heads are deposited. Generally, the ABS surface of a slider incorporates a patterned topology by design to achieve a desired pressure distribution during flying. In effect, the pressure distribution on the ABS contributes to the flying characteristics of the slider that control the flying height, pitch, yaw, and roll of the read/write head relative to the rotating magnetic disk. The read/write element generally is mounted at the trailing edge of the slider so that its forwardmost tip is generally flush with the ABS of the slider and is situated above the surface of the spinning magnetic disk by a small flying height typically of about 12.5 nm.
An exemplary magnetic read/write head includes a thin film recording head with a bottom pole (P1) and a top pole (P2). The pole P1 has a pole tip height dimension commonly referred to as “throat height”. In a finished write head, the throat height is measured between an air bearing surface (“ABS”), formed by lapping and polishing the pole tip, and a zero throat level where the pole tip of the recording head transitions to a back region. The pole tip region is defined as the region between the ABS and the zero throat level. This region is also known as a pedestal, which is an extension of the pole P1. Similarly, the pole P2 has a pole tip height dimension commonly referred to as “nose length”. In a finished recording head, the nose is defined as the region of the pole P2 between the ABS and the “flare position” where the pole tip transitions to a back region.
Each of the poles P1 and P2 has a pole tip located in the pole tip region. The tip regions of the poles P1 and P2 are separated by a magnetic recording gap, which is a thin layer of insulation material. During a write operation, the magnetic field generated by the pole P1 channels the magnetic flux from the pole P1 to the pole P2 through an intermediary magnetic disk, thereby causing the digital data to be recorded onto the magnetic disk.
During the operation of the magnetic read/write head, the magnetic recording head portion is typically subjected to various thermal sources that adversely cause ambient and localized heating effects of the recording head. One such thermal source is attributed to a heat transfer process to the magnetic read/write head from the effect of the spinning magnetic disk.
During a typical operation, the magnetic disk spins at a rapid rate of rotation, typically on the order of several thousands of revolutions per minute (RPM). This rapid rotation generates a source of friction of the ambient air between the ABS and the spinning magnetic disk, thus causing an elevation in the air temperature.
Furthermore, the heating of the motor that drives the magnetic disk causes an additional elevation of the air temperature. In totality, the ambient air temperature may rise from a room temperature of about 25° C. to as high as 85° C. Since initially the read/write head is typically at a room temperature, there exists a tendency for a heat transfer process to take place between the ambient air at a higher temperature and the read/write head at lower temperature. The heat transfer causes a rise in the temperature of the read/write head so as to promote a thermal equalization thereof with the ambient air temperature.
The temperature increase of the read/write head further causes a variant temperature distribution as a result of the thermal conduction of diverse materials that compose the read/write head. Since most wafer-deposited materials, such as those composing the poles P1 and P2, typically have greater coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) than that of the substrate, the temperature increase effects a general positive displacement of the read/write head as well as a local pole tip protrusion beyond the substrate.
Additionally, the read/write head is also subjected to various sources of power dissipation resulting from the current supplied to the write coils, eddy current in the core, and the current in the read sensor. The power dissipation manifests itself as a localized heating of the recording head, thereby resulting in a temperature rise akin to the foregoing ambient temperature effect.
In a static test environment without the effect of the spinning magnetic disk, the localized heating may cause a temperature elevation of as high as 70° C. However, in an operating environment of a magnetic disk drive, the temperature rise resulting from the localized heating may be limited to about 40° C., primarily due to the alleviating effect of a convective heat transfer process induced by the rotating air between the pole tip region and the spinning magnetic disk. As a consequence of the localized heating, the temperature increase associated therewith further promotes an additional protrusion of the pole tip relative to the substrate.
A typical pole tip protrusion in a static environment may be about 30 to 35 nm. In an operating environment of a magnetic disk drive, the pole tip protrusion is reduced to a typical value of 7.5 nm to 12 nm. Since a typical flying height is about 12.5 nm, the pole tip protrusion associated with thermal heating of the recording head therefore presents a serious problem with a highly undesirable effect of a physical interference that causes the recording head to come into contact with the spinning magnetic disk. While a typical flying height may be about 12.5 nm, there are currently a significant number of low flying heads (e.g. less than 12.5 nm). In the future a steady evolution to lower flying height exacerbates this interference problem.
This contact with the disk causes both accelerated wear and performance degradation. The wear effect is due to abrasive contact between the slider and the disk. Pulling the softly sprung slider slightly off track impacts the track following capability of the recording device.
In an attempt to resolve the foregoing problem, a number of conventional designs of magnetic read/write heads incorporate the use of a material with a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) that is lower than that of the substrate. Functionally, the low CTE material is generally used as an insulator between various metals in a conventional magnetic read/write head. An exemplary material used in a conventional magnetic read/write head is silicon oxide, SiO2, which typically has a CTE of 2 parts per million.
In the presence of a temperature rise resulting from a thermal heating of the read/write head, such a material would tend to expand at a lower rate than the substrate, thus creating a thermally induced axial restraining force to develop between the material and the substrate. This restraining force effectively reduces the expansion of the substrate, thus tending to mitigate the natural protrusion of the pole tip.
While, in principle, the use of a material such as SiO2 in a conventional read/write head appears to have resolved in part the foregoing problem with thermal heating of the read/write head, in practice, the application of the SiO2 to the conventional read/write head does not produce a desired effect due to various adverse attributes associated with the SiO2 material.
Among some of the problems with SiO2 is its poor thermal conductivity, which generally impedes the heat extraction process from the surrounding material to the SiO2 material. Thus, in spite of the low CTE associated therewith, the low thermal conductivity of SiO2 does not sufficiently reduce the temperature rise of the pole tip region. Therefore, the pole tip protrusion is not adequately reduced with the use of SiO2.
Another problem with SiO2 is the lack of elasticity associated with its ceramic characteristics. Thus, in the presence of the thermally induced axial restraining force, the accompanied shear stress developed at the interface of SiO2 and the surrounding material tends to promote a delamination of the SiO2 material, thus posing a reliability problem for the read/write head of a conventional design.
In recognition of the problems associated with the use of SiO2 in a conventional read/write head, some alternative materials have been proposed but have not been entirely successfully applied to a read/write head. As an example, while these materials such as Cr, W, possess higher thermal conductivities than SiO2, they are not readily available for deposition and patterning in a recording head at a wafer-level process, and the foregoing problem of pole tip protrusion has heretofore remained unresolved.
Thus, it is recognized that there still exists an unfulfilled need for an enhanced design of a recording head that provides a thermal diffusion and thermal expansion control in order to minimize the pole tip protrusion resulting from a thermal heating of the magnetic recording head during operation. Preferably, the enhanced design utilizes a more suitable material having a near-zero CTE for controlling the expansion of the recording head, a high thermal conductivity for extracting heat away from the pole tip region, and an elastic compatibility with the substrate for preventing delamination. Moreover, the new design should be incorporated into a conventional recording head at a wafer-level process without substantial modification to the existing structure of the recording head.